Guardian News & Media (GNM) today announced the appointment of Aron Pilhofer - currently associate managing editor for digital strategy at the New York Times - to the newly-created role of executive editor of Digital. The announcement was made by incoming editor-in-chief of theguardian.com, Janine Gibson.

Pilhofer, who is also editor of interactive news at the New York Times, will work across the Guardian's editorial teams to develop and execute new and innovative digital journalism initiatives and tools to help grow global audiences and deepen reader engagement. His new role will see him helping drive the Guardian's digital transformation, working in concert with a global team of journalists and developers.

He will start in the Guardian's US newsroom in June and will move to the Guardian's offices in London over the summer.

At The New York Times, Pilhofer was responsible for helping develop and execute the newsroom's approach to technology, new product, analytics and social media. As the editor of Interactive News, Pilhofer led a 40-person team he founded and built in 2007, embedded within the newsroom, to create new forms of journalism by blending social media, analytics and technology.

"When we began talking in March, it was immediately apparent that Aron would bring the right combination of passion, ambition and skill to the Guardian," said Janine Gibson. "He is a terrifically talented and visionary editor who clearly understands the future of digital journalism and we're delighted he is joining our team."

"Aron Pilhofer is a pioneer of digital storytelling and inspires so many digital newsrooms in their search for the journalism of the future", said Wolfgang Blau, the Guardian's Director of Digital Strategy. "We are incredibly excited to have Aron join the Guardian during this critical phase of entering into a more collaborative relationship with our readers around the world."

"The Guardian has proven to be among the most exciting places to do quality, ambitious digital journalism on a global stage. I'm thrilled to be joining the team at such a fantastic time," said Pilhofer.

In April, the Guardian announced that it had broken through the 100 million monthly unique browser barrier for the first time, according to the latest ABC digital figures. Since launching its US and Australia digital editions in 2011 and 2013 respectively, traffic from outside of the UK now represents over two-thirds of the Guardian's total digital audience. Guardian US won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its reporting of the NSA disclosures made by Edward Snowden. In 2014, the Guardian was named newspaper and website of the year at the Society of Editors UK Press Awards.

Aron Pilhofer is Associate Managing Editor for Digital Strategy at The New York Times and is responsible for helping develop and execute the newsroom's approach to technology, new product, analytics and social media.

Aron also is editor of Interactive News, a 40-person team he founded in 2007 to blend journalism, social media, analytics and technology in new and innovative ways. The desk operates like a startup embedded in the newsroom, creating new forms of journalism to enhance The Times's reporting across all platforms. The work of the Interactive News desk has won multiple awards, and has been consistently recognized as among the most innovative and forward-looking in the industry.

Outside the newsroom, Aron represents the newsroom's interests to a variety of business-side departments, including technology and product. He was the early editorial lead on a suite of new paid products, working as part of a small team of designers, product managers and technologists. The first of those products, NYTNow, was launched in April.

Aron joined The Times in 2005 as a projects editor on the paper's newly expanded computer-assisted reporting team, where he specialized in stories related to money, politics and influence for the politics desk and Washington bureau.

Prior to joining The Times, Pilhofer was database editor at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington. Before working at the Center, Pilhofer was on the national training staff of Investigative Reporters and Editors and worked for a number of years as a statehouse and projects reporter for Gannett newspapers in New Jersey and Delaware.

Aron also co-founded two news-related startups: DocumentCloud.org and Hacks & Hackers. Launched in 2009, DocumentCloud.org improves journalism by making source documents easier find, search, analyze and share online. DocumentCloud.org now contains close to 1 million documents and is used by more than 800 newsrooms worldwide. Hacks & Hackers, also created in 2009, is an informal organization that brings journalists and technologists together. The group now has dozens of chapters and thousands of members worldwide.

About Guardian News & MediaGuardian News & Media (GNM) publishes theguardian.com, the third largest English-speaking newspaper website in the world (comScore, November 2013). Since launching its US and Australia digital editions in 2011 and 2013 respectively, traffic from outside of the UK now represents over two-thirds of the Guardian's total digital audience.

In the UK, GNM publishes the Guardian newspaper six days a week and the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer.

The newspapers were named the most trustworthy, accurate and reliable newspapers in the UK in 2013.

The Guardian, which was first published in 1821, is most recently renowned for its agenda-setting NSA and GCHQ revelations following disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden, its globally acclaimed investigation into phone hacking and the launch of its groundbreaking digital-first strategy in 2011 and its trailblazing partnership with WikiLeaks in 2010.